Method of and machine for making roofing elements of assorted colors



Feb. 10, 1931. F. c. oVERBuRY 3,791,571

METHOD OF AND MACHINE FOR MAKING ROOFING ELEMENTS OF ASSORTED COLORS Filed April 21, 1926 Patented Feb. 10, 1931 ing tabs,

the colored tabs appear in haphazard ar- UNITED STATES PATENT caries FREDERICK C. OVERBURY, OF HILLSDALE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR, BY HESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, TO THE PATENT AND LICENSING CORPORATION,

OF BOSTON, MASSACHU- SETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS METHOD OF AND MACHINE FOR MAKING ROOFING ELEMENTS OE ASSORTED COLORS Application filed April 21,

This invention relates to fabricated roofing elements of the type known as strip shingles and has to do particularly with the production of multi-colored strip shingles in a. va-

crushed slate, sand, or other granular material. The sheet is cut or otherwise divided into individual units or elements at any desired point in the process, each element having a plurality of shingle-simulating elements any desired shape and size. In making shingle strips, the butts of individual'shinles of any desired shape are usuall simufiited on theportion of the strip which will be exposed to view when laid, by dividing this portion by indicia, such as slots, grooves or distinguishing lines of some kind defining tabs therebetween. These lines of division form the pattern on the roof giving the appearance of single spaced shingles. The roof may be given any desired color by the choice of grit applied to the'tabs in surfacing the coated areas which are to be exposed. A roof of a single color, however, presents a monotonous appearance. To avoid such monotony and to give the roof a more pleasing and artistic appearance, a plurality of colors have been applied to roofing elements in various ways. Many methods of color applicae tion to the elements have resulted in streaks, blotches or geometrical desi s on the roof as a whole when laid, all 0 which detract from the appearance of the roof. It has been found that artistic and pleasing efiects may be obtained by applying a variety of harmonizing colors to t e strips, the boundaries be tween adjacent colors coinciding with the slots or lines separating the shingle-simulat and the strips being laid so that One type of.

1926. Serial N0. 103,687.

rangement on the roof. To secure this efi'ect with shingle strips, it is necessary that the sequence or arrangement of colors in the individual strips be varied, otherwise a certain undesirable regularity of design is inevitable on the laid roof. It is not necessar however, that every pair of consecutive ta s be of different colors. Successive tabs may frequently be of the same color, the important feature being that the various colors are not gradually blended into each other but are sharply defined by definite boundaries, these boundaries closely coinciding with lines of division between successive tabs. An object of my invention is to provide means for makin shingle strips having tabs of different co ors.. Another object of my invention is to provide a machine which will produce successlve strips having a variety of assortments of colors on the tabs.

difierent lots of similar strips.

Further advantages and im rovements will appear on the drawing, in w ich:

Figures 1 and 1a represent diagrammatically in elevation apparatus for carrying a sheet of roofing material from the supply roll through the various operations to the finished product. c

Figure 2 is a perspective of the cutter roll on a larger scale.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary plan-of a sheet of roofing material showing the relative arrangement of slits, cuts, color bands, and tabdistinguishing slots or marks.

Figure 4 represents a typical shingle strip cut from the sheet.

/ Referring to the drawing in detail, 10 represents a supply roll suitably supported from which a sheet 11 of roofing material may be supplied. This sheet 11 may be of any desired width or material. In making roof- 7 This saves the trouble and expense of making up assortments from rag or asbestos fibers or the like.

- cutting also may operate pervious coatin material, such as high meltingoint asphalt, liquefied by heat, to which may e applied a protective surfacing of comminuted or granular material. As shown in Figure 1, the sheet 11 may first be led through a slotting device 12 which cuts out parallel series of slots 13 suitably spaced to distinguish shinglesimulating tabs on the finished product. By cutting slots in the raw felt, the material cut out can be returned to the beater and used over again. Instead of cutting slots on the sheet as shown the slots may be preformed during the making of the sheet or in any other desired Way. The step of slotbe omitted, or replaced by a device for cutting a groove,marlring a line, or otherwise distinguishing successive shingle tabs.

The sheet of felt 11 is led through a container l4. filled with suitable saturating liquid, the excess saturant being pressed out as by a pair of rolls 15. The saturated sheet may now be cut longitudinally into strips by ,a suitable slitting device 16. It is obvious that the slitter may if desired be positioned to on the sheet before it is saturated instead of afterward as shown. The strips of the sheet may then be led beneath a coating device which as shown comprises aspout 17 rolls 18 to spread the coating material evenly, and a receptacle 19 to catch excess coating which may flow through the slots and between the strips. For coating the strips 1 preferably use blown or oxidized asphalt on account of its tough and rubbery consistency and its relatively high melting point.

i The asphalt may be applied by heating to sheet transverse applied cold in the form of. an emulsion, such as that described in the patent to Kirschbraun No. 1,417,835. Instead of the asphalt, I may use any other equivalent impervious compound. By slitting the sheet into stripsbefore the coating 0 ration, the coating material will flow over t is edges of the strips and the cut-outs, thus sealing the cut edges and protecting the cut ends of the fibers from the weather. If the strips have not been slotted prior to coating, grooves or channels may be pressed, gouged, or otherwise formed in the coating layer to define shingleksimulating tabs. Instead of applying the coating to the upper surface, I may, if desired, apply it by suitable means to the lower surface or to both surfaces of the sheet. While the coating ma terial is still tacky, the sheet is led beneath a slating device conventionally indicated at 20. This device may be ofany desired structure capable of depositing on the moving bands of diflerent colored comminuted material. Any number of colors maybe applied. On the drawing, four hoprs, each with a different color, are indicated; the feedin mechanism within the ho pers being inten fluidity or may ed to operate intermittent y in such a way that all the hop ers drop granular material on the moving s eet while the sheet progresses through a distance equal to the width of a shingle division. Then the flow of grit ceases while the sheet further progresses a distance equivalent to the width of four shingle divisions. Thus in one com; plete cycle of operation of the hoppers, the strip advances a total distance of five shingle widths, one during the showering of the grit, and four during the period of inaction of the hoppers. Since the hoppers cover only four of the five shingle widths during one cycle of operation, bands of one shingle width will be left blank between successive grit-covered areas. Material from the hoppers which falls through the slots and between theedges of these strips may be caught by a suitable receptacle 21. A fifth hopper 22 is preferably supplied to pour granular material over the whole sheet continuously. This coversthe band of coated area which has been left blank and also any spaces which have accidentally failed to receive grit from one of the four hoppers. The sheet may then be led around suitable rolls 23, 24:, which press the grit into firm engagement with the coated areas. Excess grit not adhering to the sheet will fall from the roll 23 and be caught by a suitable receptacle 25 from which it may be supplied to the hopper 22. As the rit so caught 20, the color supplied through the hopper 22 will with this arrangement of mechanisms be a mixed or neutral color. The. sheet may then be led over a series of pressing rolls 26 which may also cool the sheet if the coating has been applied hot. The sheet may be furthei" cooled, if desired, by any preferred type of refrigerator conventionally indicated at 27 The strips may now be cut into separate roofing elements, preferably .of a length to include a plurality of shingle-simulating tabs. The elements are preferably cut from the slit strips of the sheet 11 by cutting blades 28 suitably mounted on a roll 29. The roll 29 is'preferably adjusted with reference to the color bands on the sheet so that each cut on a'strip' coincides with a boundary be tween two successive bands of color. The cutters 28 for the dilferentstrips are arranged at different points on the periphery of the roll 29 in such a way that the cuts on the several parallel strips will come in a staggered or echelon formation longitudinally of the sheet as shown clearly in Figure 3. This" staggering of the cuts produces at once an assortment of color combinations on I finished elements which are cut from can be applied to the sheet, the greater will be the variety of color combinations on the finished units cut from the sheets. Tile t e strips may be collected in a suitable container or conveyor 30 and assembled for shipment.

The order of steps in the process may be changed around to a considerable extent. By following the sequence shown in the drawing and hereinbefore described, shingle strips can be produced, the exposed portionof which, including the edges, is completely covered with a protective coating of impervious material surfaced by suitable granular material in a variety of colors, each individual color area coinciding with a section of the strip which is equivalent to one shingle. These strips will come from the machine in a variety of color combinations which will permit packing of the strips directly from the machine.

It may be noted that my invention comprises a combination of four distinct methods of obtaining an assortment of color combinations, any one of which would alone provide assorted arrangements of colors, assum-' ing that as hereinbefore described the colors are applied in regularly recurring series of bands. First, by providing a number of colors differing from the number oftabs on each element. In this case, the elements cut from each continuous strip would have an assortment of combinations. This effect could be obtained also by cutting successive elements with a varying number of tabs from a continuous strip. Thus, if the sheet were slated with three colors A, B. C, A, B, C, etc., two-tab strips would have the combinations A B, C A, and B C. Four-tab strips would haveABCA,BCAB,andCABC. It is obvious that the greater the number of colors, the wider will be the variety of combinations. Second, by cutting the slots or other tab indicators so that adjacent continuous strips in the sheet lie butt to butt or head to head, the combinations in adjacent strips willbe reversed, e. g., if as before bands of three colors A, B, C, are applied to the sheet, even if three-tab elements be out from the strips the combinations A E C and C B A will be obtained. Another element of variety in color .tones is produced by this method due to the fact that when crushed slate of a solid color is applied to a sheet in the usual machine for making roofing elements, the color tone of the slate surfacing varies according to the direction from which it is viewed. -Hence, if two elements be cut from a uniformly slated sheet and one of them turned around so that 1 its upper and lower edges exchange posishingle-simulating tabs,

. sheet.

all the elements from the sheet as they come from the machine. In this case, elements would be taken successively from the several strips in rotation. Fourth, a further assortment may be had by adding to the apparatus shown a second multiple color slating device agranged to operate on the reverse surface 0 would have different combinations on its two faces. It is obvious that the more of the four methods described are used together, the wider will be the variety of color combinations obtainable.

Having thus described an embodiment of my invention it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from its spirit and scope as defined by the appended claims.

claim: 1. The method of making roofing elements with different combinations of colored areas,

surfacing material of different colors to a sheet of roofing material in transverse bands of shingle width, slitting the sheet longitudinally into strips, successive strips being disposed head to head and butt to butt, and cutting off elements from said strips, each a number ofthe sheet so that each individual element pair of successive cuts on a strip being on color boundaries and spaced by the width of a plurality of said bands.

3. The methodof making multi-colored roofing elements, which comprises forming in a sheet of roofing material indicia to define surfacing a face of the sheet with transverse bands of various colors, each of the boundaries between different colors registering with one of said indicia, slitting the sheet longitudinally in such a manner relatively to said indicia that adjacent strips will be disposed butt to butt and head to head, and cutting roofing elements from said strips, each comprising a plurality of tabs.

4. The meth d of making mult-i-colored roofing elements, which comprises surfacing a sheet of roofing material with transverse bands of different colors, slitting the sheet longitudinally intb strips, and cutting the strips on lines coinciding with boundaries between color bands, said cuts of the several strips being staggered longitudinally of the making multi-colored which comprises slitting a 5. The method of roofing elements,

sheet of roofing material longitudinally into strips, coatin and dividin into. shingle; simulating ta s a longitudinal portion of each strip; applying bands of dififerent colors transversely across all said strips, cutting roofin elements from the strips, each element aving a number of tabs differing from the number of colors on the strips, the cuts of the several strips being staggered relatively longitudinally of the sheet.

6. The method of malring multi-colored roofing elements, which comprises slitting a sheet of roofing material into strips, defining shingle-simulating tabs on said strips, applying impervious coating material to a face of each strip and the edges thereof, applying bands of different colored materials transversely across the entire sheet, the successive color bands coinciding'with successive tabs, and cutting elements from said. stri s, each element comprising a pluralitv or ta- 5, the cuts being on lines between successive tabs and the cuts of the several strips being sgaggered relatively longitudinally of the s eet.

7. The method of making shingle strips, which com rises slotting, saturating, longitudinallfy sitting and coating a continuous sheet 0 roofing material, applying colored grits to a coated face of the strip in transverse bands, the boundaries between successive colors registering with the slots in vthe sheet, and cutting elements from the slit strips, the lines of cut on the diiierent strips bein relatively staggered longitudinally of the s eet and being made on boundaries between adjacent color bands.

8. The method of making multi-colored roofin elements, which com rises forming in a s eet of roofing materia indicia to define shingle-simulatmg tabs, surfacing a face of the sheet with transverse bands of various colors each of the boundaries between different colors registering with one of said indicia, slitting the sheet longitudinally in such a manner relatively to said indicia that adjacent strips will be disposed butt to butt and head to head, and cutting roofing elements from said strips, the cuts of the several strips being made in echelon.

9. The method of making multi-colored roofin elements, which comprises forming,

in a s eet of root material indicia to define shin le -simulating tabs, surfacing a face of the s eet with transverse bands of colors, each of the boundaries between different colors registering with one of said indicia,

' the sheet longitudinally in such a manner relatively to said indicia that ad acent strips will be disp'omd butt to butt and cad-to head,

and cutting ofi muiti-teb roofin elements from-said strips, the number of ta s on each element being dlfl'erent from the number of colors on the sheet,

10. The method of making multi-colored rial in transverse ban slitting of the sheet with transverse bands of various colors, each of the boundaries between difi'erent colors registering with one of said indicia,

longitudinally in such a manner relatively to said indicia that adjacent strips will be disposed butt to butt and head to head, and cutting oii' multi-tab roofing elements from said strips, each element having a number of tabs differing from the number of colors on the sheet, the cuts of the several strips being made in echelon.

11. In a machine of the class described, means for slitting a. sheet of roofing material longitudinaily into strips, means for applying different colors to said sheet in transverse bands, and means for cuttin ofi ele ments from the several strips, said cutting means including separate transverse knives for the several strips, said knives being oliset with respect to each other by distances which are multiples of the width of one of said color bands.

12.111 a machine of the classdescribed, means for slitting longitudinally a sheet of roofing material into strips, means operating on each stri to define shin le simulab ing tabs, means or aplying difi ierent colors to successive areas 0 each of the strips, the boundaries between adjacent color areas coinciding with the boundaries between adjacent tabs, and means for cuttin said strips transversel on certain of said boundaries.

13. n a machine of the class described, means for surfacin a sheet of roofing material with materia s of difl'erent colors arranged in transverse bands, and means for cutting from the sheet roofing elements having areas of diiierent colors, said cutting means including means for cutting the sheet slitting the sheet lengthwise across the color bands and means for making transverse cuts shorter than the width of the sheet on boundaries between successive color bands.

14. In a machine of the class described, the combination with means for cutting series of slots in a continuous sheet of roofing material, means for progressively saturating said sheet with liquid itumen means for slitting said sheet longitudinally, and means for applying impervious coating toa face of the sheet, 0 means for applying granular mates of various colors to the coated face of the sheet, the boundaries tween adjacent colors passing through said I slots, and means for cutting roofin elements from the slit strips, the cuts on t e several stri s being relativel staggered len hwise of t e sheet and all ing made on undaries between adjacent colors.

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature.

FREDERICK CTOVTERBURY. 

